Some Americans more optimistic – NYT/CBS News

While the stock market was giving back recent gains on Tuesday, a new New York Times/CBS News poll found a sharp increase in the number of Americans who feel their country is on the right track.

The percentage who feel America is headed in the “right direction” has climbed from 15 percent to 39 percent since January, according to the survey, while those saying the country is going in the “wrong direction” has fallen from 79 percent to 53 percent.

The “right direction” figure may still account for only two in five Americans, but it is the highest in the poll since early in President Bush’s second term. The finding coincides with a similar figure in last week’s ABC News/Washington Post Poll.

In the NYT/CBS survey, the percentage of Americans who feel the economy is “getting worse” has fallen from 54 percent to 34 percent since January. A modest 20 percent – up from 7 percent in January – feel the economy is improving.

President Barack Obama continues to register strongly in the survey, conducted late last week.

A total of 66 percent of those surveyed approved the president’s overall performance in the first 75 days of his administration. The approval rating is slightly higher than 58 percent in a Pew Research poll released Monday.

By contrast, just 31 percent of those surveyed had a favorable view of the Republican Party – the GOP’s lowest approval rating in 25 years.

Given a choice of who can be trusted to make the “right decisions,” 63 percent opted for President Obama and just 20 percent for Republicans in Congress.

But the poll did register high negative opinions for certain of Obama’s economic policies.